It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 87 | Crisis Emerges

"It's like a group of armed medieval peasants besieging a few knights," sighed an Ivan Ross staff officer.

When the command efficiency disadvantage of Ivan Ross's tank troops was solved in another miraculous way, the flexible tactics that the Imperial German armored troops were proud of seemed a bit clownish.

The tactical reserve's flanking attack was ineffective.

Soon, the Varlander troops retreated.

The wreckage of tanks was scattered among the harvested wheat fields, most of which were still burning.

As the sun sets in the west, over this vast expanse of land, more than a hundred plumes of thick smoke gradually gather together in the air and rise into the clouds, signaling the end of a fierce tank confrontation.

The Imperial German 24th Panzer Corps fought bravely, using up two-thirds of its tanks in a single afternoon of fierce fighting, yet achieved little. The 4th Panzer Division was practically depleted of its combat effectiveness, and the shocking exchange ratio nearly drove Major General Langermann to suicide.

The big city of Lodz was also one of the core fortified areas of the second strategic defense line. Although the armored forces of the 24th Armored Corps suffered heavy losses, the motorized infantry forces were still intact, so they joined the defense sequence and cooperated with the 201st Fortress Division to defend Lodz.

The 9th Army, which was holding the first strategic defense line, was thus in a completely desperate situation - it was surrounded by the enemy from the north and south, and was under constant attack from the front. The broken defense line was in danger, and the 12th Infantry Army asked for help five times in a row.

General Reichenau realized that if this continued, the entire army group would be divided and surrounded. He had no choice but to order each army and division to abandon their respective positions, shrink their positions, and concentrate to hold a relatively intact line of defense.

It is impossible to retreat. In this situation, if we retreat, we will be pursued relentlessly and will most likely be defeated.

The armored forces' counterattack ended in failure. It may have been a tactical defeat, but the consequences at the campaign level were even worse.

Looking at the overall situation, the strategic situation is inadvertently deteriorating.

During the European War, Ivan Rus's army was poorly equipped but large in number, and was nicknamed the gray cattle. But what was interesting was that the mobilization efficiency of its state machinery was quite good, and whenever it suffered losses, it was able to make up for them.

Today, the Ivan Rus Empire still maintains this fine tradition.

Every minute and every second, the mobilization progress of conscripted divisions and national rifle brigades across the country is increasing.

Millions of reserve soldiers rushed to the assembly points by train, and some troops had even begun pre-war training.

When it comes to tactics, some inconspicuous regulations can actually have far-reaching impacts.

According to the administrative order of the Imperial War Council, independent tank brigades should be attached to reinforce infantry divisions or infantry corps in wartime.

And, crucially, is the note in this order - the tank commander has the right to refuse unreasonable arrangements made by the infantry commander.

Historically, the situation was completely the opposite. The Soviet tank units had to obey the command of the infantry units, which was equivalent to letting laymen command experts. It was not until the middle of the war that the Soviet army modified this absurd rule.

The organization of the Ivan Rus Army's independent tank brigade was as follows:
>Brigade Headquarters
>Brigade Headquarters Company

- Reconnaissance Platoon
Communications Platoon

——Transport Platoon
>3 Tank Battalions
——Battletank Company (10 T-35 multi-turret tanks)
——Cruiser Tank Company (13 T-34 tanks)

- Tank destroyer company (13 BT-7 tanks)

> Anti-aircraft company (9 trucks equipped with quadruple 7.62mm Maxim heavy machine guns)
>Technical Support Company
In total, a fully equipped independent tank brigade has approximately 1300 men and 108 tanks of various types.

Due to limited national strength, Ivan Rus only had time to manufacture about 600 early models of T-34, and Britain helped to manufacture 250 of them.

These less than a thousand new cruise tanks were properly and centrally used, playing a pivotal role. The combat effectiveness of the tank troops achieved a qualitative leap because of them.

Ivan Ross's General Staff regarded them as the iron fist that would severely damage Varland, and they lived up to expectations and brought endless panic to the Imperial German armored troops.

Mikhail Koshkin's imaginative masterpiece shines brightly on the battlefield.

A crisis spread because of it, and a spiritual symbol was born because of it. In the following days, the two sides continued to play against each other in an open and fierce manner.

Faced with the rampaging tank clusters and endless infantry clusters, Walland's second strategic defense line collapsed under the multi-pronged attack, and only some strongly fortified areas were surrounded and resisted stubbornly.

The vanguard of Ivan Rus' million-strong army has advanced to the Warta River line, heading straight for Bolin.

□

□

□

A series of major events in early September shocked the world.

Under the might of Ivan Rus's army, Budapest was shrouded in an atmosphere of anxiety, as if the sky was about to fall.

The staff officers hadn't smiled for many days, and the intelligence that came in like snowflakes was all bad news one after another.

The power of armored forces has been fully demonstrated, and anti-tank has become the most important and urgent need.

"...I've underestimated the tank's power. From what we know so far, the German 37mm anti-tank gun is useless against Ivan Ross's new tanks, and the 50mm gun (tank gun) is also useless. This is going to be a difficult situation."

The Military Technical Advisory Group held a seminar with nearly a hundred officers and experts gathered together, and a colonel was giving a casual speech.

"From this point of view, the armor of the Russians' new tank is quite thick. I'm afraid the weight is about 30 tons?"

"It shouldn't be more than 30 tons. Their engineering regulations have always stipulated 30-ton pontoon bridges, and this standard hasn't changed in the past two years."

"If it's less than 30 tons, what level of frontal protection can we achieve? We need to prepare a report and send it back immediately. The project specifications for the new anti-tank gun will definitely need to be revised."

"The military attaché at the Embassy in Bolin sent a telegram this morning saying that the new tank has a very unusual shape. It's not square, but rather resembles a flattened pyramid, with sloping sides on all sides."

"Are the Russians building warships? Are they using sloped armor on tanks?"

Shang Ke had no interest in what everyone was talking about and didn't want to interrupt for the time being.

These people were very clever and figured out the key to the T-34 in a few seconds - it weighed 25 to 30 tons and the essence of its protection lay in its sloped armor.

Shang Ke listened to everyone's discussion with great interest. This kind of reasoning was very interesting.

The inclined armor layout has long been used on battleships and cruisers and is not uncommon, but it is the first time it has been used on a large scale on tanks. Mikhail Koshkin is the pioneer of this approach.

"Do we have any navy personnel here? What's the empirical formula for the armor's bullet resistance?"

"If you don't know, just use trigonometric functions to get an approximate estimate."

After a while, everyone came up with a simple estimate - the armor thickness of the new Russian tank may be 40 mm, and the armor is placed at an angle of 50 to 55 degrees, which is equivalent to 60 to 70 mm. To be on the safe side, it is multiplied by 1.5 times.

"The anti-tank gun's specifications will need to be significantly increased. According to the ballistic limit, it will require at least a five-kilogram projectile and a landing speed of 700 meters per second." An artillery technology expert said hesitantly.

"Huh? With this specification, the anti-tank gun would weigh one and a half tons, right?"

"Correct."

Shang Ke noticed that Su Ji beside him frowned suddenly - this meant that tactical flexibility was seriously reduced. It should be noted that today's popular small-caliber anti-tank guns generally weigh only three or four hundred kilograms and can be pushed and moved by a few people.

The competition between armored vehicles...has begun.

(End of this chapter)